Journey to the Center of the Earth (Ecuador and the Galapagos) - December 2001 and January 2002

This travelogue describes my cruise through the Galapagos Islands on the Polaris (operated by Lindblad Expeditions), followed by several days on the Ecuadorean mainland. I tried to divide it into reasonably brief sections, so you can skip to the parts you're interested in. The offiicial logs for the Galapagos part of my trip can be found at Lindblad's Daily Expedition Report site. (The dates are Sunday, December 30, 2001 through Friday, January 4, 2002.) There are no official logs, however, for bus rides in the developing world or city tours of political demonstrations in Quito, so you're stuck with my view of those.